


it's not goodbye, it's hello

by flutter2deceive



Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F, Series Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 08:24:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7969498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flutter2deceive/pseuds/flutter2deceive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>tv guide wrote that "the final scene between jane and maura is when you'll definitely want to bust out the kleenex. we wouldn't exactly characterize it as a 'goodbye.'" i knew it would be something less than what they deserve, so i wrote this as an alternative to whatever it actually turned out to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's not goodbye, it's hello

**Author's Note:**

> i finished this about a minute before the actual last scene. unbeta'd. first thing i've ever written for this fandom, and first thing i've written at all in well over a year.
> 
> italicized lyrics are from "hello" by sugarland

_that sweet september wind_  
_made us so much more than friends_  
_one night_

 

jane sat on the floor of her new apartment, labeled boxes surrounding her like a fortress of familiarity. she had just started going through one of the smaller boxes marked ‘bathroom’ when she found the dvd. the flowing script of her best friend conjured up the image of maura sitting at her desk, sharpie poised over what had to be a video message of some kind.

‘with love, your family’

she felt the tug on her heart that she’d been experiencing at increasing intervals over the past couple of weeks. the whisper that this was all a terrible mistake. in her stubborn need to prove her independence, she had declined maura’s offer to help her settle in. she reasoned that it would have been too hard for her to say goodbye when it came time for maura to leave.

popping the disc into her laptop, jane guiltily acknowledged that she had stuck maura with that hard goodbye when she left for her new home. ‘new apartment,’ she mentally corrected, 'not a home. not yet. maybe not ever?’ she shook the thought out of her head as the video automatically started playing.

[tj sat on a couch, smiling into the camera. jane ran a finger over his little cheek on her computer screen. 'auntie jane! daddy says you gonna be a teacher. i thought you was a cop! can you come teach my school? i like you more and miss arnold smells funny!’]   

jane laughed along with tj’s giggles as the camera spun around to her brother.

[after a couple seconds, tommy’s smirk came into focus. 'i guess we definitely know he’s my kid now, huh? it kinda sucks that you aren’t gonna be here now that we’re finally back. but you’re gonna do great down there, i know it. give 'em hell, sis.’ the camera panned back to tj, emphatically waving his hands and parroting the ‘give 'em hell, sis!’ tommy groaned behind the camera.]

as the videos continued, jane’s emotions threatened to overwhelm her. vince (with kiki by his side) imparted fatherly wisdom about the things that are important in life. nina and frankie bemoaned the fact that their little crime-solving team wouldn’t be the same without her, audibly shooing kent from the room with a simple 'no bagpipes!’ angela managed to get out the words 'proud,’ 'safe,’ and 'my baby’ in between a vaguely unintelligible speech filled with tears.

jane reached for the tissue box, dabbing at her eyes as her mother put on a brave face and ended her video with an 'i love you.’ she kept the box in her lap, knowing what was coming next.

[maura’s face held a tremulous smile. she took a deep breath before beginning to speak. ‘do you remember when you were thinking of marrying casey? and i asked you what i would do without my best friend? it was because i couldn’t imagine my life without you being present in every moment of it. we have grown so intertwined that to live separate from you would be like living without a piece of myself.’]

as maura wiped away tears from her eyes, jane held a tissue to hers to stem the matching flow. even through a computer screen, she could feel maura’s palpable sadness. 

[‘i tried to be so strong for you, to not hold you back from this new opportunity in your life… but i am so heartsick, jane. having your family here is a blessing that means so much to me, but nothing is going to be the same without you. i feel it in my bones, which i imagine is the same as you feeling something in your gut. it’s scientifically inexplicable, but i know it to be true.

‘i’ve never felt a connection to someone like the one we have, jane. when ian would come and go from my life, i was sad but i never once felt like i wouldn’t be able to go on without him. and i thought that he was the love of my life.’ maura closed her eyes, unsteadily breathing in and out before blinking and refocusing on the camera. ‘what does that say about who you are to me, jane?’]

at maura’s question, jane unconsciously held her breath, daring not look away until maura answered it for her.

[‘i know you didn’t want me to come with you to help you move, but i don’t want to tell you this over a video. please call me once you’ve watched this.’]

jane sat staring at the screen as it went black. she felt a little pang of disappointment that she still didn’t have an answer to the question maura posed, but if it was to be the confession she thought it sounded like, then it probably would be more satisfying to hear in person. ‘or over the phone, i guess…’ jane thought. 

with trembling fingers, she pulled up maura’s name in her contact list and hit call. the phone rang twice before maura answered, “jane?”

“hey… so i watched the video…” the resulting pause spanned several seconds and were it not for the background noise, she would have assumed maura had hung up. it sounded like maura was walking outside, wind blowing past the phone and into jane’s ear.

“do you think i’m being crazy? i thought maybe i was, but then i remembered you asked me a similar question of what you would do when i moved to maine to write novels, so maybe you felt it too, but–” maura was nervously rambling, jane could tell, and the volume of her words was getting lost in the wind. 

“maur?” she cut her off. “what you asked on the video?” she let it hang for a moment, preparing herself to address it. maura’s next words stopped her short.

“can you buzz me up?”

“wait… what? what do you–” the speaker by her door buzzed mid-sentence.

 

_in the moment that one thing ends  
is the same time that one begins_

jane could hardly believe what seemed to be happening. after pressing the button on her intercom, she stood staring at the door. the knock that sounded a minute later spurred her back into action. she looked through the peephole and saw her best friend standing on the other side.

opening the door, the two women stared at each other for several loaded seconds before jane reached out and pulled maura into a hug. “what are you doing here?” she asked.

leaning back, maura looked into jane’s eyes. “i had to tell you this in person. and i didn’t want it to influence your decision, so i wanted to wait until you were already in your new place.”

“how did you know i would watch the video tonight?” the thought had occurred to jane as she was waiting for maura to climb the stairs up to her apartment.

“i slipped it into the box with your toiletries. i knew you’d probably put off unpacking as long as possible, but i figured that was something you’d get to tonight. i drove down not too long after you left, and i’ve been sitting in the coffee shop on the corner waiting for your call.” she looked away from jane, seemingly embarrassed by her elaborate plans. “if you hadn’t called by the time they closed, i was going to check into a hotel downtown and probably over-analyze everything for the hundredth time, so i’m glad you called.”

she was bordering on nervous rambling again, so jane reached a hand out and stroked her upper arm, bringing her focus back to her face. “sweetie, what did you want to tell me?”

maura steadied herself by resolutely looking into jane’s eyes. “i said i had done some soul-searching, and all of my thoughts ultimately led to you in some way. and it wasn’t actually that surprising, to be honest. it made me realize that you are the other half of my soul, jane. i love you more than i have ever loved anyone else in my life. and i know that i cannot be happy without you by my side.”

a tear rolled down maura’s cheek and jane’s hand moved up to wipe it away. “maur…” a smile slowly bloomed across her face, extending up to her watery eyes. “i think i’ve loved you for years now.”

maura took jane’s hand and moved it down to cup her cheek, exhaling the breath she had been holding. jane’s eyes moved down to her hand on maura’s cheek, across to her smiling lips, and back up to her eyes. 

at maura’s slight nod, jane slid her hand up into maura’s hair and urged her forward, lips meeting in a shy caress. pulling back, jane met maura’s eyes again. a raspy whisper uttered the one word she hadn’t said since maura walked in her door. “hi.”

there would be time later to talk about the logistics of the next chapter of their lives, but they were content to spend the rest of that night embracing their newly-acknowledged feelings.

 

 

_now in every wind that blows there’s a part of me that knows  
it’s not goodbye, it’s hello_


End file.
